Treating multiple fields with the same name
This tip describes how to access multiple instances of the same item individually.
Probably every developer read the description of RemoveItem method of the NotesDocument object in Domino Designer Help with a little confusion:
If more than one item has itemName$, all items with this name are deleted.Well, but what can they be, those multiple instances of the same item? And how can I access them individually?
In the document properties, one can see that each instance of a field with the same name has a unique Dup Item ID, starting from 0. However, there are no documented methods to programmatically use that information. Any time the item's value is invoked, it is taken from the instance with the lowest Dup Item ID, even if you try to use the Values or Text property of the NotesItem class.
The obvious idea of simply looking through all the items in the document and collecting values for repeated names in an array just won't work, since all you get is the same value (that of the zero Dup Item ID item) repeated several times. This is a clear indication that Notes/Domino is NOT an object-oriented system. The only method that discriminates between item instances is Remove of NotesItem class. Below, see an example of how the multiple Received fields can be combined in a single field, to be displayed on the memo form. Just replace the standard QueryOpen script on the Memo form (as well as Reply, etc.) with the script below, and you'll get all the Received fields combined in a single multi-valued field (the complete message trace) that can easily be shown on the form (e.g., for debug).
If you use the code below, do not forget to open the mailbox database properties and check the box "Do not mark modified documents as unread" in the design pane.
Sub Queryopen(Source As Notesuidocument, Mode As Integer, Isnewdoc As Variant, Continue As Variant) Set cMemoObject = New UIMemoDocument Call cMemoObject.Init (Source,Isnewdoc) Set doc = Source.Document If doc Is Nothing Then Exit Sub Set db = doc.ParentDatabase '--- if the current user cannot edit documents, do nothing '--- (this is necessary since the right to read mail can be delegated) If db.CurrentaccessLevel<4 Then Exit Sub s = "" Do f = False its = doc.Items Forall i In its '--- if the item name is "Received", prepend its value to the accumulator string If i.Name="Received" Then '--- the following check is necessary to properly treat newly created documents If i.Text<>"" Then x =
Evaluate ({@Implode(Received; @Char(10))}, doc) If s="" Then s = x(0) Else s = x(0)+Chr(10)+s '--- after the item with DupItemID=0 is removed, the values of DupItemID for remaining items '--- are decremented by 1 and the item with DupItemID formerly equal to 1 becomes active i.Remove f = True Goto Skip End If End If End Forall Skip: Loop Until Not f If s<>"" Then doc.Received = s ' the formula in Evaluate converts the field into a text list, with a little formatting for readability doc.Received = Evaluate({ @ReplaceSubstring(@Explode(Received; @Char(10)); " ":@Char(9); " ")}, doc) doc.Save True, False End If End Sub
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